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Focal Celestee

I just received my first audiophile headphones, the Focal Celestee. I am not necessarily a HP fan, but I needed a birthday present, they were pretty highly recommended by professional & user reviews, my local audio store (even though they were OOS), they were a good price point & I thought I would enjoy them.

I first burned them in running for 24+ hours at a higher volume per Focal recommendation. I then began streaming from my system, several jazz musicians listening through my new Focal’s while A/B with my system speakers (my Rogue plays both headphones & speakers simultaneously).

My issue is the Focal’s don’t sound as good, to my ears, as playing music through my existing system or I had hoped. I understand Focal is not a leader in soundstage & while the Focal’s are more dynamic, I had hoped for a cleaner & clearer sound.

My question is if you think my issues are with the Focal’s or the built in headphone amp in my Rogue preamp and your resulting recommendations / fixes.

My system includes:

Rogue RP-1 pre with NOS Telefunkon medical, Siemens nickel plate & Brimar CV4003 NOS tubes (rolling)

LSA Warp 1 amp

KEF R11 speakers

Rythmic F12SE sub w/miniDSP equalization

Aurender N150 streaming Qobuz

Chord Qutest DAC

Pro-ject 1Xpression carbon classic with Hana ML cart

Rega Aria phono stage

A reason to think the problem may be in the Rogue is the stereophile RP-1 review. While the overall review was stellar, they stated: “… mostly average audio quality of the RP-1’s headphone output.”. But maybe not. Anyone using the RP-1 HP output?

Your thoughts and recommended actions would be appreciated. Thank you.

128x128signaforce
tooblue
1,929 posts
 

Although I have no experience with your Focal headphones, I feel the issues you are having could be with the Rogue headphone amp and the Focal being a closed back design ( I prefer the open back headphones myself ). Don't give up as headphones can provide you with an excellent alternative to your main system and provide you with a great musical experience when done correctly. Seek out a way to play your Focals through a dedicated headphone amp and see how that turns out for you. Enjoy the music

signaforce's avatar
signaforce OP
194 posts
 

Thanks, I agree with the open back design… something like the Focal Clear. As I understand it, open back provides a better sound stage, but not sure it would improve clarity, that probably lies with the HP amp. 
Is there a HP amp you would recommend?

soix
9,551 posts
 

It’s hard to say, but using the headphone output from an entry level preamp is not likely doing you any favors. That said, your Focals don’t seem to be voiced to be the last word when it comes to detail/air, so I’m guessing that’s a lot of what you’re missing. If possible you should try a pair of Hifiman open-backed planar headphones as you’ll likely get much more openness and detail, and I’d recommend their Ananda Nano ($499) as a good starting point but if you could stretch for the Arya Organic you’ll be at a higher level altogether and think you’d be floored by them. You might be able to buy and return through Amazon so that might be worth a look. Hope this helps, and best of luck.

icanthear
5 posts
 

I own a pair of celestees, along with a number of other headphones (including their utopia22s). I am reasonably satisfied with the celestees, for closed backs, although they are limited in a few ways because of the closed back nature of them.I would start with a decent headphone amp and see how it goes. Wiim, Schiit, Topping, JDS, and a few others make reasonably priced headphone amps. Check out of those and spend some time getting used to listening to your cans with them.

 

Headphones are great but a different experience than listening to speakers. 

signaforce's avatar
signaforce OP
194 posts
 

@icanthear 

Thanks, I agree. Here’s my thoughts after much research. Return the Celestee’s & buy the original new stock Clear’s from headphones.com (only $91 more).
For my application, I don’t need closed backs, and didn’t properly research the downside of closed backs before buying the Celestee’s. I really like the Focal form factor. 
Then purchase one of the HP amps you recommended. Thoughts?

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